Def Leper

Of course it is. What owner of a $29,000 turntable playing through $45,000 worth of electronics into $60,000 loudspeakers in the music room of a $4.7M home would be happy with a $500 cartridge?

I had an email conversation with the seller the day he listed them because his photo of the tag was unreadable. He told me the model number and I told him what he had, but also that the $4000 BIN he had listed was not even something that would work on some very desirable mint finished K-horns. He posted better pictures and jacked the BIN up to 8 grand. Gave me a good laugh.

Remember that legal "sports wearables" are items that are licensed from the teams and you are paying for use of the copyrighted/trademarked graphic when you pay for the item. Showing your "support" for a team, company, TV show, etc. by taking their property without permission and compensation is a rationalization for something that is a very common form of petty theft of intellectual property.

I didn't say they were-- I merely pointed out that they are using these copyrighted logos or images without permission from the owner. Not a huge deal, but some might want to clean up their own house before pointing fingers.

Absolutely not defending the ebay dork who appropriated A.K.'s photos, there are quite a few people here who are using copyrighted/trademarked images as their icons, like the Klipsch logo, Homer Simpson, the family guy, and a few others. []

You can scan though magazines and put together a nice condo, nifty furniture, cool TV's and all that stuff. But you can't develop a good ear by buying what you see in magazines. Face it, people with no artistic discernment, tin ears, and bad taste need things to spend their money on, too. That's why there is a place in the world for Pontiac Aztecs, iPods, Hillary Duff CD's, hip-hop, and yes-- Bose speakers.

Puting the system above the screen isn't going to be possible at this point. My spouse is forebearing of my TV room because she enjoys using it too, but I some of the pictures I've seen of forum member's systems would put me right in the doghouse. I have a remodeling project coming down the pike in a few years that will move the TV and sound system into a "great room" with a false wall, and having the center speaker above the TV will work in that scenario. However, I plan on switching to front projection, which will likely place the screen too high. OTOH, it might be high enough to allow placement below the screen and still keep the higher frequency components above "foot level." Would it make sense to check out some of the current Klipsch center channel speakers? My current center channel is JBL. It's OK, but simply lacks the presence of the Cornwalls. Perhaps a newer Klipsch center channel speaker will work until I get moved into the new room?

See, even the ebay dummies aren't dumb enough to fall for an obvious scam. Probably his next auction will be a junk tuba, trombone and trumpet stuck in a refrigerator box and hyped as the "prototype" Klipschorn. Although I must admit that the Bose "prototype" looks like it might probably sound better than a real Bose product.

Tom, I had thought of that (getting a vertical cornwall) but the squawker/tweeter ends up being too low if it is below the TV screen. Frankly, my big feet when I prop myself up in my recliner would be in the way, hence the desire to move the squawker/tweeter to a position above the screen. Your idea would work fine, though, if I was using a front projector, which would place the screen higher up.

By volume, do you mean the total of the hole sizes (widthXheight) multiplied by the board thickness? I've noticed that most of the ports I see seem to be a round hole with a tube that extends into the the box, which are certainly 3-D spaces with volume.

Hi folks. I'd like to integrate my Cornwalls into my home theater system and would appreciate your opinions on the following plan: I have some 3/4" solid core furniture plywood left over from a home improvement project. I'm planning to make a center speaker that will match the sonics of my '84 Cornwalls. I plan to make a "low boy" bass cabinet with the same volume, venting and bass driver as the Cornwall, but in different proportions to fit under my TV. A Cornwall squaker and tweeter will be placed in a separate cabinet to go above the screen. I'd like to update my speakers with new crossovers and the center channel will get a matching new crossover as well. Does this plan make sense? Because it will be a center channel speaker, should I consider a midrange squaker with a lower crossover point?

Those dusting cans get very cold after use and can actually form ice on the outside, so it's a distinct possibility that one might have deposited some moisture on your cabinet. My charming and dutiful spouse has registered rings on several inconvenient surfaces in our home, including some hardwood floors and a cherished family heirloom antique table. After the last episode, I tossed the offending plant out into the yard with the threat that they would all follow if another crop circle was detected. I like plants just fine, but they belong outside, not inside. After all, I don't park my car in the living room. []

Since my hobby is enjoying music and movies and not collecting equipment, I never get tired of it. There's always something new coming down the pike, old favorites to enjoy or "new" old goodies to discover. The equipment is the means to the end, not the end itself.

I would rename this thread "Why some topics suck." I don't listen to music to revel in the techology of the media, I listen to music to revel in the music! Every techology has good and bad points. I listen to wax cylinders on an Edison player, 78's on several players including a Premier piano-form photograph and Victrola VV-IX, a wide variety of mono, stereo and quadraphonic LP's on my trusty old Thorens, Pioneer and Techiniques turntables, reel to reel tapes on a Pioneer RT707 tape unit, and CD's that I've been collecting since the CD first appeared on a number of different players. And you know what? I can't remember going to pick out a particular recording so I can be amazed by the media and my music delivery system. I pick the recording because I want ot hear the music. Frankly, I've got examples of good, bad, indifferent and great recordings in every medium. I'd rather hear a good 78 on my Premier than a bad CD on my Klipsch system, and I have recordings that I never really was able to hear until I got a remastered version on CD to replace an indifferent LP. I've also run into a few that were very poorly remaster on CD and sounded much better on vinyl. It really should be about the music, not the media.

The buyer is Japanese, which explains a lot. Japanese collectors tend to have a lot of available cash (they save a lot) and no good sources for these items in Japan. They also tend to be very competitive in their collecting. I do some trading in vintage cameras and find Japanese collectors always willing to pay the highest prices for scarce items, often two or three times the going rate.

An old soundman's trick-- Try rotating the bass driver by 90 degrees or 180 degrees. If you are having a problem with the voice coil, spider or suspension, that might change the stress patterns on the woofer enough to cause the problem to disappear or get worse. If so, replacement is indicated. The woofers have a lot of moving mass suspended compared to smaller drivers and over time, the effects of gravity and use can take a toll.

The first thing most of us electrical guys were taught by the old timers was to check to make sure the equipment was off, and check it twice, and the second lesson was to leave the jewelry at home. They often punctuated the lesson with hands that were missing a finger or parts of a finger, and spiced it up with descriptions of watching the Darwinian end of former coworkers who didn't check twice, including graphic descriptions of various forms of electrocution, fast cooking with microwaves, and other horrible forms of electrical death. I think you got off pretty lucky and have a good tale to help remind you in the future.

sounds like RFI from a poorly-filtered microprocessor. How good is your hearing? You might be hearing high frequencies that most cannot detect.

In the replies to questions at the bottom of the auction posting the seller clearly states twice that the bid amount is for all 8 tubes, so that's a little over $1200 for 8 tubes.

I'm probably luckier than most in that I manage a fleet of advanced development vehicles, but we always have a number of comparative study vehicles that we drive for about six months, then disassemble. I'm expected to drive my fleet vehicles so I gave up my personal car years ago when I started the job. Right now I'm switching back and forth between two of our advanced driver training vehicles, a 2004 BMW M3 and a brand new 2005 C6 Corvette. I'm not a fan of Corvettes but this one is the best I've driven. I did drive the previous Z06 and really hated that one. It's so powerful and unforgiving that I really don't think it should be sold to the general public. Definitely a car that can get you killed in a hurry. If money were no object, I'd pick one of those huge diesel motor homes like the golf pros own, pulling around a nice little Mercedes for when I park it. And yes, I would install a nice set of Khorns in it. If there was any single car I owned and wish I still had, it's my very first car, a 1955 Chevy convertible.

I think most hi-fi enthusiasts talk themselves into believing that there is no life without their system, but let's face facts-- For most, this is a pleasurable, albeit expensive, hobby. As with many other hobbies, hi-fi seems to be male-dominated and guys just love to tweak, tinker and tune. If not speakers, wiring and amps, it's likely valves, injectors and dampers, cameras, lenses and strobes, or combinations of the above. Do horns need tubes, wires, room treatments and tweaks? Probably not any more than any other system does. Most guys would still be tweaking if they had speakers made from apple crates, tin cans and paper clips. That's the nature of the beast. A gazelle and cobra arrived at a dangerous, flood-swollen river at the same time. The cobra asked the gazelle to carry him across the flood on his back. The gazelle refused, saying the cobra would surely bite him. The cobra assured the gazelle that if he did that, they would both die, and that would be stupid. So the gazelle let the cobra slither up on his back and they started across the river. Halfway across, the cobra gave a mighty hiss and bit the gazelle squarely in the shoulder. "Why did you do that? Now we will both drown." The cobra moved in a way that the gazelle took as a snake shrug and said "I can't help it. It's what I do."

Brain pain indeed. Some of the stereophile explanations of technical aspects of sound reproduction border on the mystical sometimes, but speculation about golf ball dimples and how that applies to speakers by those with absolutely no clue to the technology involved is a bit painful to read. Perhaps the confluence of golf and hi-fi is a bad idea. []

Getting excited over a vintage '67 receipt? I've got shoes older than that. It's always nice to find a little provenance with an oldie but goldie, isn't it? I enjoy collecting and restoring old magic lanterns (early slide projectors that used glass slides) and recently took apart a depression-era Victor for restoration and found the original owner's card dated 1932.

My Cornwalls are in corners and about 12 feet apart. I get the "split stereo" effect where sources mixed to center often sound like they are fairly well centered but with frictives/highlights coming from both left and right. The problem is also accented by moving around in the room. I have checked the phasing of speakers and components and all are connected properly and I do not have any bass problems. I suspect adding a center channel will help establish a more solid sound stage. Can a center channel be connected passively? I think a set of Heresy's would compliment my Cornwalls and putting a pair together in the center will work in my room. Can anyone share some ideas on how this type of system can be connected without resorting to a surround sound or home theater amplifier system?

Liquid Nails is adhesive, not a sealant. No doubt extremes in humidity have played a role in loosening the joints. You need a flexible caulk with good sheer characteristics, and a high-quality outdoor caulk, silicone or silicone/latex combo, and preferably the type recommended for door and window sealing. These hold up well against the swelling/shrinking caused by humidity changes.